Controversy is the meat of science. Cognitive psychologists are tossing around hypotheses about what they call multiple category-learning systems. This issue relates to tacit knowledge because the brain would appear to have a different operating system for tacit knowing (see implicit in the research literature) vs explicit learning. Another term for tacit is procedural; Zaki and Kleinschmidt argue in a recent paper that what seems to suggest this difference is actually caused by task complexity instead of indicating a need for some alternative brain structure. Now a new research study just published in Psychological Science (Feb 2014, V25 #2 pp.447-457) claims the opposite. Their research strengthens the view that procedural learning (giving rise to tacit knowledge) appears to be dissociated from processes exhibiting explicit learning.

Welcome to TacitKnowledge.org

Blogging about Michael Polanyi’s tacit theory of knowledge and applications to current problems in education. For an introductory, silent power point presentation look under “ABOUT”